Billoh Waritay

10/27/16
Prof. Goffman
English 101

Music of The of The New Era

One would like to believe that all (men) were raised with the understanding that a woman
is sacred and should be seen as an equal counterpart and should also be treated as such. In
Sojourner Truths excerpt, she explains how she was raised hearing about how a man should treat
a woman and how woman should be viewed but then she gets to get painful reality which is e
exact opposite. It seems as though not much has changed since then (late 1800s). Although we
know what women mean to us (men) we continuously succeed at degrading and devaluing our
female counterparts. We as a society have become a lot more open with our display of blatant
disrespect and misrepresentation of women and it is observed more in the music being poured
into commonwealth. Music has been a part of Human culture since before the days of christ. In
those days, it was centered around a particular civilizations culture. over the years music has
always told stories and sent messages, because of this characteristic it was able to bring
individuals together. Music has far more influential power than any King, Queen, Emperor,
Shogun, or any figure head that has ever lead in history. and unlike every head figure that has
ever lived, whose reign always came to an end. It is clear that over the centuries the power that
music had over our ancestors is still the very same power that we find ourselves clinging onto
today. Music historically has had an association with violence, as it has been used in the art of
war in many societies. The negative images conveyed through the lyrics and most recently music

videos of popular music, such as hip hop/rap, influence the behaviors and perceptions towards
women of today's youth.

In A$AP Rockys famous track titled F**kin Problems ft 2 Chainz, Drizzy Drake, and
Kendrick Lamar listeners are presented with the lyrics I love bad bitches that's my fuckin
problem, and yea I like to fuck I got a fuckin problem, a simple sentence with such a heavily
negative connotation, an amount of vulgarity, and the degradation of women as sexual objects. A
study conducted in 2014 analyzed the top 40 songs of Billboard Year End Hot from 1971-2011,
the study concluded that there has been a shift in the messages being conveyed in music, from
relating to more romantic desire (Love) to a more sexual desire (lust) (Mandanikia and
Bartholomew 1). In the article Themes of Lust and Love in Popular Music Lyrics From 1971 to
2011, the authors talk about how women are presented in popular music, The sexual content
of popular music tends to reflect stereotyped gender roles, with women presented as sexual
objects for the pleasure of men. In this quote, the authors are saying the music that today's youth
is exposed to is only painting an image where young men are beginning to view their female
counterparts on a much lower pedestal which leaves these young men living with a false sense of
reality.

Todays music not only has an effect on the perception of women, but it also influences
youth's acceptance of teen dating violence. In the song titled Too by the rap group Thrvxxx,
the lyrics That dont mean shit, I'll still smack a Bitch if I'm sober normalizes the image of
physical abuse towards women. The sexual subordination of women in lyrics and music videos,
in addition to stereotypical sexual imagery contributes to the acceptances of violence as a means
of conflict resolution within teen relationships. This is not limited to male teenagers only.

According to the article Differential Gender Effects of Exposure to Rap Music on African
American Adolescents Acceptance of Teen Dating Violence over 30% of respondents used
physical tactics to resolve disputes with their dating partners. The authors argue that,

Given that teen dating violence is a significant problem in present day America,
investigations of any factor which might play a role in the acceptance of the use
of such violence would certainly seem warranted. One possible factor involves the
negative depictions of women in rap music lyrics and videos. (Johnson, Adams,
Ashburn, Reed 598).

Looking at this one can say that because of the messages being received by today's youth, we
begin to see that they now find it somewhat necessary to express their dissatisfaction through the
acts of violence.

Kids today have a clear understanding of what's right versus what's wrong. Though some
may still try to argue that the actions of minors amongst themselves is based on what major
industries are feeding them, it is still hard to ignore the fact that children grow up with a
conscious and are solely responsible for their actions. However one may say that the music they
are being exposed to is an influential benefactor towards the unpredictable behavior of today's
youth and also their environment that they find themselves in as well.

From this discussion one can say that music has played a rather large role in society for
centuries. Also in recent years, we have seen that messages being conveyed from today's music,
rap in specific, is presenting young men with a new acceptable outlook on dating and the

treatment of their female counterparts. With that said it still hard to argue that music is to be held
solely responsible for this unfortunate turn of events when there are still so many other factors to
take into consideration mainly environment and culture.

Johnson, James D., Mike S. Adams, Leslie Ashburn, and William Reed.

"Differential Gender Effects of Exposure to Rap Music on African

American Adolescents' Acceptance of Teen Dating Violence." Sex Roles: 597-605. Print.
Kalof, Linda. "The Effects of Gender and Music Video Imagery on Sexual Attitudes.
"The Journal of Social Psychology: 378-85. Print.
Madanikia, Y., and K. Bartholomew. "Themes of Lust and Love in Popular Music Lyrics
From 1971 to 2011." SAGE Open(2014). Print.